It’s On Me mobile app lets users buy drinks for friends from afar

It’s On Me mobile app lets users buy drinks for friends from afar

David Leibner, founder and CEO of ItsOnMe, explains the features of the mobile app in the company workspace during an interview at the Holsum Lofts building at 241 W. Charleston Blvd. in Las Vegas on Monday, Jan. 20, 2014. ItsOnMe is an application that allows users to buy food and drinks for friends at participating bars and restaurants. (Bill Hughes/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

It’s On Me mobile app lets users buy drinks for friends from afar

David Leibner, founder and CEO of ItsOnMe, is shown with the ItsOnMe website and mobile app in the company workspace at the Holsum Lofts building at 241 W. Charleston Blvd. in Las Vegas on Monday, Jan. 20, 2014. ItsOnMe is an application that allows users to buy food and drinks for friends at participating bars and restaurants. (Bill Hughes/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

It’s On Me mobile app lets users buy drinks for friends from afar

It’s On Me mobile app lets users buy drinks for friends from afar

Users can log in through Facebook or Twitter or an It’s On Me account, can browse bars and restaurants, and select and send food and beverage gifts to their friends via app, text or social media. (Bill Hughes/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

It’s On Me mobile app lets users buy drinks for friends from afar

The It's On Me mobile app launched in August in Las Vegas, but is expanding to San Francisco, San Diego and New York. (Bill Hughes/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

By KRISTY TOTTENLAS VEGAS BUSINESS PRESS

David Leibner had the idea for It’s On Me 20 years ago. It just wasn’t yet an app.

In 1994, Leibner was managing a New Orleans bar called Le Bon Temp Roule, French name meaning “let the good times roll.”

Chefs, bartenders and all kinds of industry people hung out there. They’d go there to celebrate birthdays, engagements and other milestones.

There was just one problem — patrons worked various shifts and it wasn’t always possible to get everyone together for a scheduled celebration. And if they weren’t present at parties, they couldn’t buy rounds for their friends.

So Leibner invented the drink board, a chalkboard divided into three categories: “from,” “to” and “what.”

“From” would list the sender, “to” would list the recipient and “what” would tell what kind of drink.

“Good friends gift each other rye,” Leibner jokes.

And that was that. The next time the birthday girl or boy or the recently engaged pair came in, they could redeem their gift and the entry would be erased from the board.

It’s On Me is the same concept on a high-tech level.

The mobile app lets its users buy their friends food and drinks from favorite local establishments. Users can log in through Facebook or Twitter or an It’s On Me account, can browse bars and restaurants, and select and send food and beverage gifts to their friends via app, text or social media.

The app launched in August in Las Vegas, but is expanding to San Francisco, San Diego and New York. Before the name change in August, It’s On Me was known as Drinkboard.

Leibner likens it to “the gift card version of Open Table,” a website that manages restaurant reservations.

Boosting local business is central to It’s On Me.

The team vets establishments to make sure they meet their standards. For local users, it’s likely their downtown favorites are on there. For tourists, it aims to save them from having to sift through Yelp, trying to figure out what’s good.

“We want to keep it quality,” said Rachel Wenman, director of business development. Wenman’s background is in hospitality, marketing and events.

In Las Vegas, It’s On Me partners with about 30 restaurants and bars.

Fremont East establishments Commonwealth, Insert Coin(s), Le Thai, Radio City Pizza and Park on Fremont are partners, as are popular downtown bars Artifice, Frankie’s Tiki Room and Velveteen Rabbit.

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